Paul Kasmin Gallery will present Bosco Sodi’s Muro, the artist’s first public installation in New York at Washington Square Park. Muro is a 2-meter high by 8-meter long wall constructed with 1,600 clay timbers that Sodi fired by hand at his studio in Oaxaca, México with the help of local craftsman.

Muro will be erected on September 7, 2017 and stand for one day. Visitors are invited to remove one timber at the end of the day, each sealed by the artist with his signature, to take home. Muro will thereafter endure as a communally co-owned work of art. The project expands upon Sodi’s ongoing interest in organic processes beyond the artist’s control. The impermanent nature of Muro further underscores the sentiment that all obstacles have the potential to be dismantled through united forces. 

Throughout the duration of the piece, Muro evokes diverse metaphors that are activated by the public as they collectively disassemble the wall. In doing so, Sodi’s Muro subverts the primary function of a wall as a device of separation by empowering the community to remove this physical barrier and its inherent symbolism. This effect is heightened as the day progresses and as more of the physical obstruction becomes displaced. The evolution of the sculpture is thus inextricably linked to civic participation so that the shared response and action of individuals become implicit subjects of Sodi’s work.

The installation precedes Bosco Sodi’s inaugural exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery on view from November 2 – December 22, 2017.

Bosco Sodi (b. 1971, México City) has exhibited his work internationally and throughout the United States. His works are in significant public and private collections including JUMEX Collection, México; Vitra Museum, Switzerland; Deutsche Bank Collection, New York, USA; IBM Building, New York, USA; Contemporary Art Foundation, Japan; Murderme, London and the De la Cruz Collection, Puerto Rico. Notable exhibitions include Por los siglos de los siglos, Museo Nacional de Arte, México City (2017); ELEMENTAL, Museo Anahuacalli, México City (2017); Museum of Stones, The Noguchi Museum, New York (2015); and Pangea, Bronx Museum, New York (2010). Sodi is also the founder of Fundación Casa Wabi, an art center in Oaxaca, México dedicated to promoting the exchange of ideas between international artists of different disciplines. Designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the foundation also develops opportunities for art education with local communities.